Just Pretend

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Gwen

Jason moves in the next week, subletting his place in the city, and as per our agreement, he moves his clothes into the empty half of the wardrobe.

He doesn't bring much of his furniture; saying mine is more than adequate, and only shows up with two large duffels and an armful of suits.

I raise my eyebrows at him from the bottom of the bed when he plops down on the pillows and crosses his ankles in front of me.

'Help me with dinner?' I ask and he sits up to look at me calculating.

'You're seriously going to make dinner?' he asks and I nod in response. He smiles slowly before folding his legs under him and crawling towards me, coming to a stop on his knees in front of me.

'How about I take you out?' He asks suddenly and I blink in surprise.

'Come on, Gwen. Carrie is spending the night at the training academy, and neither of us have work tomorrow,' he states his argument and I listen with my arms crossed over my chest.

'Don't even say it's too late because it's just after six,' he says when I open my mouth to say that very phrase and I sigh in defeat.

His eyes shine with amusement and victory as he hops off the bed to stand in front of me.

'Fine, I don't have a choice, do I?' I say rhetorically and he grins, shaking his head. I finally give in and he laughs as I chase him out of the bedroom.

'Hang on. Isn't this technically now our bedroom?' he asks when I'm about to close the door and I pause for a second, thinking about it before relenting and walking to the wardrobe to pull out clothes.

'Dress code?' I ask over my shoulder and jump when I feel his hands on my hips.

This man is going to be the death of me.

'Formal,' he says softly, leaning down to rest his chin on my shoulder and I turn my head slightly, feeling the stubble on his cheeks scratch at my skin.

I turn to my dresses and jumpsuits and run my fingers over the sides of the garments before stopping on a black, V-neck jumpsuit with bellbottom pant-legs. I can feel him nod with approval and I scowl as I pull away slightly to look at him and he grins.

'Hey, you'll look good in a paper bag,' he says and I can't help but laugh, shaking my head with amusement as I pull the jumpsuit out and draping it over my arm. I know this particular jumpsuit is backless and a bra is out of the question, so I grab a black lace thong before untangling myself from Jason; who very reluctantly lets me go.

I head into the bathroom and close the door behind me. I can't think about anything other than the fact that Jason and I could basically be in a relationship now, minus the sex – but I have a feeling that it's not going to be off the table for long.

And I'm not going to do shit to stop it.

I reach for the hairband I keep on the sink and tie my hair up in a bun at the top of my head before stripping and catching sight of my bruise-less reflection. My milk-coloured skin is unmarred by the blue, purple, or black of a fresh bruise or the fading yellow and green of a healing one. I turn to look at my back over my shoulder and it's free of the lines caused by the stairs digging into the muscle when Mark threw me down the stairs.

I smile to myself and see the happiness I'd been missing, for the last few years with Mark, in the crinkle in the corner of my eyes and the smile lines showing themselves in corners of my mouth.

I can't remember the last time I'd felt free and in a relationship at the same time.

Because that's what it feels like; like Jason and I are in some sort of borderline friendship-relationship thing and I can't seem to wrap my head around the mixture of feelings inside of me.